Ethnic–Racial Inequalities in Access to Basic Sanitation in Brazil: Evidence from the 2022 Demographic Census for the Quilombola Population
1
René Rachou Institute, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Access to safe drinking water, sanitation services, and solid waste collection is widely recognized as a fundamental human right. In Brazil, however, profound structural inequalities persist in access to these services, particularly among quilombola populations—descendants of enslaved Africans who formed communities in collective territories, mantaining distinct ways of life, cultural practices, and social organization, and who have been historically marked by processes of structural, institutional, and environmental racism.
METHODS:
This study examines inequalities in access to safe drinking water, sanitation services, and solid waste collection between quilombola and non-quilombola populations using data from the 2022 Demographic Census. National prevalence estimates were calculated, and an Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition was conducted to estimate the share of inequalities explained by geographic factors, such as macro-region and urban-rural location.
RESULTS:
Marked disparities were observed: only 21% of quilombolas had simultaneous access to all three services, compared to 73% of non-quilombolas. Among rural quilombolas, approximately 72% experience multiple deprivation. The decomposition analysis indicated that the higher concentration of quilombolas in rural areas and in the North and Northeast regions explains a substantial portion of the inequalities (up to 74% for solid waste services). However, between 20% and 35% of the disparities remain unexplained by geographic factors, potentially indicating the influence of structural determinants related to racial discrimination, institutional invisibility, territorial inequality, and environmental racism.
CONCLUSIONS:
Inequalities in access to basic sanitation faced by quilombola communities are multidimensional and intersectional and cannot be reduced to geographic differences alone. Overcoming this situation requires explicitly antiracist and territorially sensitive public policies, with targeted investments in rural areas and traditional communities, including land tenure regularization, infrastructure expansion, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with an ethnic–racial focus.
Access to safe drinking water, sanitation services, and solid waste collection is widely recognized as a fundamental human right. In Brazil, however, profound structural inequalities persist in access to these services, particularly among quilombola populations—descendants of enslaved Africans who formed communities in collective territories, mantaining distinct ways of life, cultural practices, and social organization, and who have been historically marked by processes of structural, institutional, and environmental racism.
METHODS:
This study examines inequalities in access to safe drinking water, sanitation services, and solid waste collection between quilombola and non-quilombola populations using data from the 2022 Demographic Census. National prevalence estimates were calculated, and an Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition was conducted to estimate the share of inequalities explained by geographic factors, such as macro-region and urban-rural location.
RESULTS:
Marked disparities were observed: only 21% of quilombolas had simultaneous access to all three services, compared to 73% of non-quilombolas. Among rural quilombolas, approximately 72% experience multiple deprivation. The decomposition analysis indicated that the higher concentration of quilombolas in rural areas and in the North and Northeast regions explains a substantial portion of the inequalities (up to 74% for solid waste services). However, between 20% and 35% of the disparities remain unexplained by geographic factors, potentially indicating the influence of structural determinants related to racial discrimination, institutional invisibility, territorial inequality, and environmental racism.
CONCLUSIONS:
Inequalities in access to basic sanitation faced by quilombola communities are multidimensional and intersectional and cannot be reduced to geographic differences alone. Overcoming this situation requires explicitly antiracist and territorially sensitive public policies, with targeted investments in rural areas and traditional communities, including land tenure regularization, infrastructure expansion, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with an ethnic–racial focus.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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